“Reality certainly appears to be cracking [under] the speed of generative AI expansion,” says Tim Stock, an associate teaching professor at Parsons School of Design, and founder of scenarioDNA, a consultancy that uses AI to map cultural trends. “We are engineering our future with very little attention to the cultural and sociological impact that might have.” To some extent, he adds, Nugent is contributing to this sense of confusion with his “idealised expression[s] of our collective imagination”
https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/59695/1/the-treachery-of-images-in-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence-luke-nugent
Category Archives: ethics
Fashion can now report its plastic use. Will reduction follow?
Global non-profit CDP’s environmental disclosure system is open for reporting on plastics for the first time as of 19 April. For fashion, it’s an opportunity to get granular about how much plastic the industry uses and produces in packaging, production and materials, including plastic-based fibres such as polyester. The next step is to create strategies to reduce or eliminate plastic.
https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/fashion-can-now-report-its-plastic-use-will-reduction-follow?utm_source=linkedIn&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=vogue-bz&utm_social-type=earned
After Fake Drake Debacle, Expect More AI Songs. But Are They Legal?
It’s unclear whether only the soundalike vocals were created with AI tools – a common trick used for years in internet parody videos and deepfakes – or if the entire song was created solely by a machine based purely on a prompt to create a Drake track, a more novel and potentially disruptive development.
For an industry already on edge about the sudden growth of artificial intelligence, the appearance of a song that convincingly replicated the work product of two of music’s biggest stars and one of its top producers and won over likely millions of listeners has set off serious alarm bells.
https://www.billboard.com/pro/drake-the-weeknd-fake-song-ai-generated-music-illegal/
We soon won’t tell the difference between AI and human music – so can pop survive? (The Guardian)
Zara, lies and Fashion’s big new row
There’s an unholy row going on in the fashion world this week, and it’s gripping stuff. It began last Thursday when the Financial Times published an interview with Marta Ortega Perez. Not a household name, but as the non executive chair of Inditex, the Spanish holding company for fashion brand Zara, she is one of, if not the most powerful people in fashion. Her father’s company, which she took over last year, produces 450m garments a year, driving sales of €32.6billion. In the last year, under Marta’s new watch, sales have risen 17%. The Ortegas are the Murdochs of the fashion world – just as powerful, possibly even richer and likely a lot less venal.
https://tiffaniedarke.substack.com/p/zara-lies-and-fashions-big-new-row
Animal-free offerings are down, but not out
Investments in next-gen materials – defined as animal-free and environmentally preferable alternatives to animal-based materials – dropped by more than half to $457 million in 2022. Yet next-gen materials continue to generate buzz and interest throughout the fashion world and beyond.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/04/animal-free-offerings-are-down-but-not-out?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social_scheduler&utm_term=Advanced+Materials&utm_content=15%2F04%2F2023+16%3A00
This Tiny Town Created by ChatGPT Is Better Than Reality TV
A team of AI researchers at Google and Stanford University posted a study online on April 7 where they used OpenAI’s chatbot to create 25 “generative agents,” or unique personas with identities and goals, and placed them into a sandbox environment resembling a town called Smallville much like The Sims. The authors of the study (which hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet) observed the agents as they went about their days, going to work, talking with one another, and even planning activities.
The bots and their virtual environment were rendered in delightful 16-bit sprites, giving it the look and feel of a video game. The results were a pretty idyllic village that seemed ripped out of Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing—if, you know, those games were also rife with incredibly complex and uncomfortable ethical and existential questions.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/google-and-stanford-researchers-used-chatgpt-to-invent-a-small-virtual-town#:~:text=A%20team%20of%20AI%20researchers,Smallville%20much%20like%20The%20Sims.
The Fashion Jobs Most Vulnerable to AI
Levi’s bumpy launch almost perfectly encapsulates the ethical and business questions many companies must tackle as the newest waves of artificial intelligence — most notably ChatGPT, a chatbot that can answer questions, write essays and even compose songs — gain momentum. AI’s proponents argue the technology can be a powerful tool to help brands cut costs, stay competitive and enhance the creativity and output of their teams. But there’s a darker scenario where companies bluntly employ AI as a one-to-one replacement for humans — veering into a whole host of ethical challenges while trading off many of the benefits of human creativity.
https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/workplace-talent/the-fashion-jobs-most-vulnerable-to-ai/?lid=7d2hnyzntgs9&utm_source=braze_marketing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Weekly_Insights_Partners_Recurring_Education&utm_content=Top_Story
They left social media for good. Are they happier?
Plenty of Americans claim social media is a scourge, but few cut the cord. Sixty-four percent of U.S. adults say social media has a mostly negative impact on life in this country, but 72 percent maintain at least one social media account, according to data from Pew Research Center. Headlines point at social apps to explain upward trends in anxiety, depression and loneliness among Americans, but people of all ages continue turning to social media to build communities. Amid our gripes and widespread distrust, social media serves as a new public square, where news develops, leaders debate and users form potentially lifesaving connections.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/04/11/social-media-quit-loneliness/
The stupidity of AI
Artificial intelligence in its current form is based on the wholesale appropriation of existing culture, and the notion that it is actually intelligent could be actively dangerous
https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.theguardian.com/technology/2023/mar/16/the-stupidity-of-ai-artificial-intelligence-dall-e-chatgpt
Why Business Leaders Must Resist the Anti-ESG Movement
The culture wars in the U.S. continue to rage, and they’ve come for business. Companies are being dragged into issues that stir emotions, such as abortion, gay and trans rights, racial and gender equity, and climate change. In particular, business is facing questions about its stance on societal issues mainly from the right side of the political aisle. So with 70% of America’s top execs calling themselves Republicans, business leaders now find themselves in an odd position: accused by high-profile members and pundits from their own party of being part of a “woke” or “anti-ESG” progressive agenda.
https://hbr.org/2023/04/why-business-leaders-must-resist-the-anti-esg-movement
Analyzing Trends with Tim Stock 